A gift to remember

The above picture has been taken from the Tata Museum in Jamshedpur, India. It is a painting that was gifted to the steel tycoon JRD Tata on his birthday by a street artist. For quite sometime no one could figure out what the painting was about. Some said it was abstract art. Others claimed it was a bad effort by an equally bad artist. Nobody was able to understand this particular work. The painting was given to JRD personally and the artist had promised to reveal the secret shortly. However, JRD passed away before the secret was revelaed. And what was the secret?


When a steel rod is placed at the circle in the painting, a sketched image of JRD Tata reflects on the rod. This shows that just because one does not understand something, it does not mean it has no any significance. » Continue reading

Read more on Tid Bits

Aten HDMI Switch VS-481 for home theater integration

Aten International's VS481 4-port HDMI switch for home theaters allows users to share their HDMI display device with up to four high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) input sources such as HD DVD players, satellite systems, digital camcorders or video game consoles.

HDMI combines audio and video signals in one cable and provides content protection. Previously, users had to alternately unplug and plug in the differnet devices, whereas VS481 connects up to four different HDMI devices to one HDMI display device.

The VS481 allows users to conveniently switch between the connected digital devices by selecting the desired input source via the IR remote control unit or the front panel pushbuttons. VS481 features a user-friendly design with one of the four HDMI input ports located on the front panel. Thus, users can easily access devices, such as digital camcorders, without always having to move around the HDMI switch for connection. In addtiion, the HDMI switch provides LEDs to indicate the video source channels. Thanks to the plug and play function, the setup of VS481 is very fast and easy -- no software installation required.

Furthermore, it supports HDTV resolution of 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p and computer resolutions of VGA, SVGA, SXGA (1280 x 1024) and UXGA (1600 x1200). » Continue reading

Read more on Gadgets, Multimedia, Technology

Welcome to the New Age

Life as we know will change dramatically over the next five years. This is what 'IBM's research' results say especially in the areas of communication, with predictive mobiles that will, read the user's mind.

Unveiled to shape the future, the 'IBM Next Five in Five' may sound a distant future, yet they are real-life innovators -- a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people will work, live and play over the next five years. The list is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM's Labs around the world that could make these innovations possible.

"Our researchers are focused on the application of technologies in ways that matter to people, business and society," said Dr. Daniel Dias, Director -- India Research Laboratory IBM. "Open collaborative research and real-world innovations are going to shape the future. In the next five years, our lives will change through technology innovations in the following ways," said Dr. Dias.


Access healthcare remotely

Millions of people with chronic health problems such as diabetes, heart kidney or circulatory problems will be able to have their conditions automatically monitors as they go about their daily lives. Device makers and health care professionals will take a proactive approach to ongoing, remote monitoring of patients, delivered through sensors in the home, worn on the person or in devices and packaging. These advances will also allow patients to better monitor their own health and help clinicians provide the on-going preventive acre, regardless of a person's location. Hardware and software advances in the field of remote-control healthcare will be a major source of consumer and enterprise innovation by 2012.

Mobile phones to read minds

Advanced 'presence' technology will give mobile phones and PDAs the ability to automatically learn about their users' whereabouts and preferences as they commute, work and travel. Presence technology - used in instant messaging - already makes it possible to locate and identify a user as soon as the user connects to the network.

In five years, all sorts of mobile devices will have the ability to continually learn about, and adapt to your preferences and needs. Your phone will know when you're in class or in a meeting and divert automatically to voice mail. Your favorite pizza joint will know when you're on your way home after a late night and ping you with a special-price, take-home meal just for you.

Real-time speech translation

The movement toward globalization needs to take into account basic human elements such as differences in language, For example, IBM speech innovations are already allowing media companies to monitor Chinese and Arabic news broadcasts over the Web in English, travelers using PDAs to translate menu in Japanese, and doctors to communicate with patients in Spanish. Real-time translation technologies and services will be embedded into mobile phones, handheld devices and cars. These services will pervade every part of business and society, eliminating the language barrier in the global economy and social interaction.

3D Internet

The popular online immersive destinations, such as Second Life and the World of Warcraft, will evolve into the 3D Internet, much like the early workb y the like of Darpa, AOL and Prodigy evolved into the World Wide Web. In this immersive online world, you will walk the aisles of supermarkets, bookstores and DVD shops, where you'll encounter experts you'd rarely find in your local store. The 3D Internet will enable new kinds of education, remote medicine and consumer experiences, transforming how we interact with our friends, family, doctors, teachers, favorite stores and more.

New technologies to address environmental importance

Government and companies are increasingly looking to improve environmental stewardship and working to secure reliable and cost-effective resources like water, energy, etc. Information technology, material science, and physics will help meet environmental needs. Nanotechnology - the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules to form tiny new structures - has already had a major impact on microprocessors, making electronic products like PCs and mobile phones small, better and cheaper, In coming years, nanotechnology will likely be used for water filtration. This could advance ecology and conservation, helping to address the growing worldwide shortage of potable water supplies. Other areas where IT, physics, and material science will have a big impact are advanced water modeling and improved solar power systems. » Continue reading

Read more on Artificial Intelligence, Gadgets, Technology

Do big meals cause crazy dreams?

Don't blame dinner -- food can't make you dream more. It just seems that way because digesting a heavy meal can disrupt your slumber, waking you during your nightly phase of intense, or REM, dreaming. Other factors that fragment sleep are anxiety, caffeine, alcohol, and sleeping pills (many can't get you through a full eight hours). » Continue reading

Read more on Health, Lifestyle

Gardening for bones!

Hours spent in the garden pay off with more than baskets of blooms. A recent American study found that garden work can ward off osteoporosis. In a survey of 3310 women ages 50 and over, gardening -- pushing a mower, pulling weeds, lifting bags of fertilizer - was the most popular pastime and the activity most closely linked to healthy bones. "People ask me, 'What's the best exercise for bone health?'" says Lori Turner, the health-science professor who led the study. "I say, the one you'll do. People like gardening." » Continue reading

Read more on Health

Loo legacy

The Tokyo Police are flummoxed by the envelopes of 10,000 yen ($82) bills popping up in toilets in government offices.

The bills are individually wrapped in traditional Japanese "washi" paper with the word "remuneration" scribbled in ink. Each packet has a formal handwritten letter which says that the giver hopes that the money will be "used for your pursuit of knowledge". Since April, over $32,720 has been found in such envelopes. The police wonder -- is it an elderly man nearing death or just a prankster. » Continue reading

Read more on Tid Bits

In defence of clutter

Feel guilty about the Everest like mounds of paper on your desk? Don't. They're an essential part of the human thought process, according to one research team. In a series of studies across many occupations, social scientists Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper, co-authors of The Myth of the Paperless Office, observed that when people read at work, they use annotating, cross-referencing and paper-sorting to tackle complex problems. When only electronic files were used, or when papers were filed away, workers weren't as effective. Piles of paper, they say, serve as "temporary holding patters" for ideas in progress. "People with messy desks don't have messy heads," says Harper. "Quite the contrary -- they've taken the mess out of their heads and piled it on their desks." So the next time someone comments on your state of disarray, tell them you're a stacker, not a slacker. » Continue reading

Read more on Lifestyle, Tid Bits